I apologize if my tone and voice change by the time you read this whole piece. I’m writing this here lead paragraph before this league has even drafted because I’m gonna link to all these Fantasy Football peeps via their twitter handles. Seeing as I don’t do much advertising of who I follow in the tweety world, consider this a small dosing of it. If all goes well, I’ll keep this bubbly persona throughout but if I have a draft disaster – or a draftaster if you will – I might go full Eeyore up in this mo’fo. But before I go from smug jerk to morose jackass, let’s cover who all was in this little draft of ours…oh wait, I didn’t tell you the league set up, did I? Well that’s easy enough to fix and let’s me kill two birds with one stone. This is a Razzball Commenter League set up. Don’t know what that is? Well click the link! It will guide you to a magical world of Fantasy Football wonder where you yourself can either commish or sign up for your very own RCL and compete with these guys for the Grand Prize. You man/woman enough for that challenge? Yes? Well then prove it and sign up! Ok, now back to the post…

1. @Revel_Nathan – As his condensed twitter bio says ‘Nathan Miller: Founder of Revelation Sports and a Fantasy Dude’. Top it off with his podcasts – which I’ll probably be on here shortly – and you have yourself a well rounded fantasy fanatic who never leaves his house. Oh and I’ll be on his podcast later tonight which should be out by Friday morning. Just a friendly plug.

2. @FFootballSchool – Shawn Luskey. A fine writer for Gridiron Experts and a fellow IPA fan which obviously makes him a good man.

4. @Chad_Scott13 – Don’t let his twitter handle fool you. He’s not really 13, he only acts that age. Fellow PNW’erner and all around good guy. Writes primarily for Dynasty League Football but is an admitted ‘whore of the industry’. Something tells me ya moms don’t follow you on twitter, Chad!

5. @KilroyDFW – Joe Kilroy does many a thing but his main gig is as senior writer for Dynasty Football Warehouse.

6. @ScottLynge – Scott Lynge doesn’t consider himself an expert per his twitter bio but since he’s a staff writer for Fake Pigskin, I’m gonna have to Obama him on that.

7. @FantasySnob – Keeps you abreast (teehee) of all the goings on in the fantasy world. Main writer for Fantasy Snob dot com.

8. @Scott_Pianowski – One of those Yahoo! guys. Sorry for site racism but they all look the same to me.

9. @TheCFX – One of those stathead geeks you used to make fun of in high school of whom you still can. I keed. Jon Moore is an analyst/writer for RotoViz.

10. @CDCarter13 – Seriously, what’s with all the 13’s? I can only do that joke once guys! CD Carter writes all over the place but I know him from Sports Jerks Dot Net so I’ll go with that. Also an author and a general neglector of his wife and children as a self proclaimed fantasy degenerate.

11. @BringtheBlitz – Jeremy Becraft and I go way back…to earlier this summer. That’s a long time in twitter years. Writer for Fantasy Football Oasis.

12. @Sky_Razzball – Obligatory. Lead writer/editor for Razzball Football and contributor for Razzball Baseball. General ne’er do well.

So now that you know who/what I was up against on this auspicious occasion, now I get to lay on you how I did. So here’s my Razzball Expert League team for 2013 Fantasy Football:

Well, I’m not gonna lie, this isn’t my favorite team I’ve drafted of all time at this point. I got sniped twice early – my 4th was supposed to be Amendola and my 6th was supposed to be Gronk – and so I took the next best thing when it was presented. Is it a bad team? I wouldn’t call it that. Having T-Rich/Lynch/Gore as your RB1-3 is hardly something that causes heartache and given I have Ivory on my bench, I’m pretty tickled about my running back situation even if it’s not ideal for a PPR league. The draft process was a little unique as people were very aware of it being a 1 PPR league. The WRs I would’ve targeted in the 2nd where I took Lynch were already gone. When the third rolled around, I still wasn’t happy with the options presented so I went with Gore. I followed that up with saying to myself ‘I gotta take a WR this round…hey look, Amendola’s still available!’ That was six picks before mine. I was a little sad but Marques Colston isn’t a bad consolation prize, of course. After that, the deals at the WR position just didn’t seem to be there so I went upside heavy with my WRs for PPR taking a buncha guys who’d fit that role. All I really need is one of them to be Amendola-lite and I’ll be happy with what I’ve drafted. You’ll notice I drafted a bench TE…I know, I know I say not to draft one but hear me out! Rudolph fell to me in the 11th which I felt was a great value if he can improve upon his 2012 line. But then I heard Ertz calling my name. I know I don’t have him ranked. I get that. I also have taken note that – despite the numbers not really being there preseason – Ertz has a shot to be lined up all around the field. With Maclin out, I saw an opportunity to jump in early on what could be a major diamond in the rough. Outside of that, my consolation of Griffin for not getting Gronk isn’t all that bad really. Against my better judgement – his injury scares me too, people – I went for RGIII over RW3. As much as I love DangerRuss, that Seattle team is a bit more balanced. He might have a few quiet weeks here and there over the course of the season. I don’t think I’ll have that issue with RGIII. Final note, yes my bench is filled with weird hopes and dreams. McCluster and Pettis are me listening to news outlets saying they’re a larger part of their respective offense then we give them credit for and I’m listening to them as I draft in the 15th and 16th round. Those ‘ya never knows’ aren’t bad pickups until you have to decide on a DEF/K. Oh and if Moreno is named the starter in Denver? I’m gonna laugh really hard. Not for gloating purposes, mind you. Just at how ridiculous that situation was and is. Ok, and a little gloating. Keep in mind this draft happened Monday. I had zero clue DeAngelo would be the lead back in Carolina. Something tells me if I need to fill my WR needs, I have some reasonable trade chips at WR to expel.

Well there’s your Razzball Expert League writeup and here’s the link to said league. Go ahead, click around like you own the place. What? You think just cuz we label it ‘Expert’ we’re removed from the public eye? Heck no! We’re all open market for ridicule now, snitches! And with that, for everyone at Razzball, this is your resident Fantasy Football expert signing out.

Hey sky, I’m a disgruntled Bell owner and have been trying to work through his injury for the last few days. My 2 remaining rb’s are forte and ivory, so I really feel the urgency to trade to attain an rb for my flex. One owner has offered me his Vincent Jackson and frank gore for my megatron…. I’m lukewarm on the deal since I know Calvin Is capable of winning me multiple matchups while the return players are just generally solid contributors. I was also thinking of offering an owner my megatron for his Cobb and Reggie bush. I have my doubts it will be accepted though. What are your thoughts? Should I shop Calvin in order to remain competitive? It’s a 12 team redraft. Thanks

Also do you think Josh Sudfeld can be a year long serviceable tight end for fantasy? I just offered Jared cook, roddy white and deangelo Williams to an owner for CJ?K and Pierre garçon. Reasonable trade? Or am I losing too much. Thanks again

Solid starters. Excellent stable of RBs. Not sold on the bench. But like you said, upside. What’s up with Broyles? I can’t see the draft order, so I don’t know where you grabbed him. Playing opposite Calvin is a plus. But his health issues have me skerd. Where you just sticking to your rankings or did you go off script?

@Sky: Yeah, if two of those pan out, you’ll be fine. Looking at the draft results, I probably would have gone a different route in the 5th considering you already had 3 RBs. But I know you have some pretty high expectations out of Ivory. So I get it. I probably would have gone Brady, Gronk, or Decker at that spot.

Interesting that you grabbed Tavon Austin while TY Hilton was still on the board. Were you hoping that he’d fall to the next round? I believe you’ve got Hilton in the 20’s and Austin much lower.

If Hopkins would have still been on the board in the 10th, would you have grabbed him instead of Wright? Or does the recent concussion worry you? I’m intersted in him in a 14 team keeper league and am trying to gauge where to take him.

@Sky: Yeah, the guy was the #5 RB last year in PPR leagues, and the #6 RB the year before. Nothing has really changed this year except for the fact that you can trust him more at this point, and yet he’s drafted as the #14 back?

Some people do go a little overboard when you change one league setting, like now they have to change all their rankings completely.

As for the WR, I can’t see 2 out of 3 of those guys getting to 90 catches….maybe one of them. The team looks good though, RB strong for sure.

did you stick to your tiers as you went along or more feel when you had to make a decision with your pick? u mentioned Rudolph fell to you but was there a WR in a tier above you could have taken or were your positions filled?

I stuck to tiers and also to strategies/general need. For example, Tavon Austin I took before T.Y. Hilton but only because I needed big rec upside. I like Hilton as more of a Vincent Jackson type but that’s not gonna get me anywhere near 80 recs over the course of the year.

Good upside at WR and I like your QB a lot. Only problem may be RBs but in a 14 team league, you’ll just want to keep your eyes peeled for injuries/hedges along the way. Overall I like this team, though I probably wouldn’t have drafted a DEF/K at this point and just filled my bench with upside until you know who to drop. They’re streamable positions.

Thanks for the feedback Sky. Besides being flexible, my plan was to not worry about back up backs too much because the flex is only WR/TE, but it seems I over looked that. I’ll definitely look for the next big RB on waivers once the season starts.

I have never tried not drafting a DST and K before, but I may give that a go in my other league drafting tomorrow (it is not for money so I can afford to change my style).

I understand and saw that. You have 3 for two spots which isn’t bad, I’m also assuming that RBs who were just as startable went for more reasonable prices. I might be wrong about that. I generally only want to spend $60 on my two starting RBs and split it however it seems right. SJax would’ve been my lead back in your scenario with a $20 one to chase it.

DEF/K are streamable and the best/dominant ones are very often grabbed via waivers anyways. Not worth spending your time on them, just grab pie in the sky upside and see what you get.

I am in a keeper, salary cap league where the players salaries are basically the average ESPN auction values (with a few exceptions, but mostly irrelevant for my question for you). I am trying to decide between keeping Ryan or Kaepernick (I’d like to keep both but I am over the salary cap and can’t justify it as it would reduce my overall team value at a position like RB or WR)…I will list out my current roster for your comment below. I have reviewed your TOP 20 QBs (and would have posted this in the comments there but they are closed), and see based on your projections, that Kaep is about 10 pts lower than Ryan (this seems to be in the noise, in my opinion). My gut instinct is to keep Kaep as I think that he has a higher ceiling (perhaps he won’t obtain it this year, but I’d like to see it come to fruition next year or the year after) and he is younger. My hesitation is the obvious; Kaep has less than 1 season under his belt and his WR corp is less than optimal.

Dropping Ryan will put me under the $200 salary cap, and allow me to participate in the rookie/FA draft. I have the 1.02 pick in our upcoming rookie/FA draft. My inclination is to go with a RB, likely Bernard as his value appears to be the best (only $4.6) and I think that he may have the best keeper potential moving forward.

In terms of keeper leagues (so this year and beyond), how do you rank the Rookie RBs? Sorry if I missed this somewhere in the Razzball Football content. Feel free to just point me in the right direction, if this is the case.

Most ‘perts opinions seemed to go like this (before the Bell injury, which I now see that Tomlin is suggesting that it might not be as bad as originally reported)…

Murph covers Rookie RB rankings. If you hover over the rankings tab, Murph has both dynasty rankings and specific positional rookie rankings out. Bell’s injury has him out at 6-8 weeks right now so he’d slide if I’m planning to compete this year. Lacy then Gio for me but it’s pretty close/interchangable for this year. Dynasty I’d lean Gio out of them all.

Sky, Many thanks for your auction values. I used them as a guide (going higher or lower at my discretion, obviously) during drafting and am relatively happy with my squad. Wanted to get your thoughts on my squad (12 tm, no PPR):

Overall, you went pretty money heavy on your starting RBs and it looks like your bench got dinged for that a bit. Per my auction strategy, that’s not a route I’d go but I like the values you got at other positions overall. Just seems like a team thin at RB for a 12 teamer but hopefully with some FA moves you can make up for that.

Those report cards are flat out humorous. Mine says I had the most projected pts for the “first half” of the draft but has me ranked 9th outta 10. Then the 2nd place projected team has the lowest projected for the top half of his team but the highest for the bottom half?! Does yahoo know the starters are a bit more important than your bench? If you don’t draft a top K or a top D you turn into Bart Simpson

Ha! Yeah, in general, I just ignore those kinds of things. The fact I have 5 startable RBs with Stew on the PUP list makes me laugh even harder. I’ll make trades as needed to improve at WR, which feels like the only area I’m hurting in. I’m very comfortable with the team I drafted.

10-team, PPR league with three keepers. I’m keeping Lynch for a fifth-rounder and Julio Jones for a 14th-rounder.

Do I take David Wilson in the 16th (last pick) or RG3 in the seventh?

Wilson is the better value, but then I’m stuck with two RBs who don’t catch passes. He also might not play more than 50 percent of the Giants’ snaps, whereas RG3 could very conceivably be a top 5 — if not top 3 — QB for the year.

David Wilson doesn’t catch passes? Don’t think that’s necessarily the case. I think you can get RGIII back in the draft if you want him. David Wilson’s going to go much higher and be harder to get if you want him. I’d lean Wilson there.

Team looks solid. Good bench RB/WR depth. My minor quibble would be taking Luck already having Wilson. Seems like overkill since you only start 1 QB. I’d look to move him and an RB for an upgrade at RB, personally, but I like your team overall.

@Sky: Thanks Sky!!! I did it cause I got burned with Rivers last yr and wanna try the two QB thing in ONE draft. I easily could of taken Bradford in RD 14. Anyhow, I will most likely move him. Sounds like te ultimate goal with QB security. Thanks.

@Sky: yeah my imaginary friend is the same way as your wife…..I am probably going to stay in Redding (an easy 8 hour drive) on Thursday, then do the last 4-5 on friday. Give me some time on Friday to actually do something in Eugene…..wait is there anything to do in Eugene?

@Sky: I gave up my bongo career many burning man’s ago. The best things I did in Eugene, besides smoke pot and drink, was ahhhh umh…..oh I got it, a used bookstore and some pretty tasty fish spot with these really good waffle cut fries. Do you work every Friday?

I just drafted tonight– 16 team PPR keeper league (keep 2). Any feedback taking into account league size/settings? I’m feeling pretty good aside from my J Stewart selection. You seem to be higher on Ivory than anybody else. I hope you’re right!

Haha, I hope I’m right about Ivory too! Have him everywhere…16 teamers always make you thin somewhere. Your WRs are awesome but you’re gonna need some injuries for depth at RB but that’s not surprising given the size of the league. Like the guys you have. Plenty of upside at all your positions. Well done!